HSBC and Mastercard Pilot Agentic AI-Powered B2B Commerce in Singapore, Signalling Next Evolution of Enterprise Payments

SINGAPORE, June 11, 2026 – As artificial intelligence moves beyond chatbots and productivity tools into autonomous decision-making, HSBC and Mastercard have successfully piloted what could become a significant milestone in the future of enterprise commerce: an end-to-end AI-powered B2B procurement and payment transaction.

The pilot, conducted in Singapore on 29 May 2026, demonstrated how trusted AI agents can autonomously manage purchasing and payment processes across a connected business ecosystem while operating within predefined controls, governance frameworks and human oversight mechanisms.

The initiative comes as discussions around agentic AI, autonomous systems and enterprise AI adoption dominate conversations at SuperAI Singapore 2026, where industry leaders are increasingly exploring how AI can transform business operations beyond content generation and workflow automation.

The proof-of-concept connected a multinational corporate buyer, Singapore-based procurement platform SourceSage and e-commerce supplier FortyTwo through an integrated commerce and payments ecosystem powered by HSBC and Mastercard.

The transaction leveraged Mastercard Agent Pay capabilities, including secure tokenised payments, merchant discovery and referral functionalities, creating a fully connected procurement journey from sourcing through to settlement.

Agentic Commerce Moves from Concept to Reality

The pilot marks one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how agentic commerce could reshape business procurement.

Agentic commerce refers to a new model of digital commerce where autonomous AI agents can perform purchasing and payment activities on behalf of businesses or consumers. These agents can evaluate suppliers, compare options, initiate purchases and execute payments with minimal real-time human intervention while operating within predefined governance frameworks.

According to HSBC, the successful pilot illustrates the growing potential of AI-driven procurement ecosystems once buyers, suppliers, payment infrastructure providers and commerce platforms become interconnected.

The development reflects broader shifts occurring across Asia’s digital economy, where automation, cross-border commerce and integrated financial ecosystems are increasingly converging.

Research cited by HSBC and Google Cloud’s Digital Frontiers 2030 report indicates that approximately 75 million digital entrepreneurs already contribute 58 per cent of ASEAN’s digital economy, generating US$175 billion in gross transaction volume during 2025. That figure is projected to reach US$580 billion by 2030 as digital marketplaces, automation and regional integration continue to accelerate.

Winnie Yap, Head of Global Payments Solutions at HSBC Singapore, said the nature of commerce is evolving rapidly. “Commerce is being rewired around platforms, automation and always-on expectations. This pilot demonstrates how B2B transactions can be executed end-to-end with control, transparency and risk management from the start,” she said.

Yap added that Singapore’s position as a regional procurement and treasury hub is driving demand for solutions that connect buyers, suppliers and platforms seamlessly across payments, liquidity and reconciliation.

Singapore Emerges as a Testbed for AI-Driven Commerce

All participants in the pilot are headquartered in Singapore, highlighting the city-state’s growing role as a laboratory for next-generation financial and commerce technologies. HSBC said the project combines the bank’s global payments infrastructure and liquidity capabilities with Mastercard’s global commerce network and the agility of technology partners operating within Singapore’s innovation ecosystem.

Jessie Saw, Head of Product Management, Global Payments Solutions at HSBC Singapore, described the initiative as a transition from experimentation to commercialisation.

“We completed our first live transaction on 29 May 2026, moving from concept to real-world execution. Now the priority is commercialisation, turning what we have proven in this pilot into a scalable, repeatable capability clients can adopt with confidence,” she said. Mastercard views agentic commerce as a significant opportunity to simplify increasingly complex procurement and payment workflows.

Minsook Cho, Country Manager, Singapore, Mastercard, said businesses operating across multiple markets often struggle with fragmented procurement and payment processes. “Agentic commerce, when powered by Mastercard and delivered with HSBC, addresses this directly. This pilot establishes that the building blocks are in place,” Cho said.

Building the Infrastructure for Autonomous Enterprise Transactions

The pilot also demonstrates how AI commerce requires a much broader ecosystem than simply deploying AI models. The transaction involved procurement connectivity platform SourceSage, which uses AI-powered procurement agents to support source-to-pay workflows, and online retailer FortyTwo, one of Singapore’s largest furniture and home furnishings platforms.

According to SourceSage CEO Sim Jian Min, AI agents can increasingly manage both buyer-side procurement and supplier-side engagement activities.

“Our collaboration with HSBC and Mastercard is an exciting step toward making that journey even more seamless through embedded B2B payments,” he said. FortyTwo CEO Naveed Lee said the pilot demonstrated how autonomous procurement can reduce manual intervention in corporate purchasing while improving operational efficiency.

The payment infrastructure supporting the transaction was provided through Juspay, a global payments technology company processing more than 300 million daily transactions worldwide.

Beyond agentic commerce, HSBC is continuing to expand its digital payments ecosystem in Singapore through initiatives such as Digital Merchant Services and the launch of mobile virtual corporate cards developed in partnership with Mastercard. These capabilities are designed to simplify payment acceptance, improve spend visibility and support multi-rail payment environments increasingly demanded by digital businesses.

As AI agents become more capable of making operational decisions, pilots such as this suggest that the future of enterprise commerce may involve intelligent systems not only recommending actions but also executing transactions autonomously.

For Singapore, which is positioning itself as a regional hub for both AI innovation and financial technology, the successful demonstration offers a glimpse into how agentic AI could reshape procurement, payments and digital commerce across Asia’s rapidly growing digital economy.